The Catalyst's Curse
by bale626
Summary: "If that is your decision, then perhaps you should consider one last option." What if the Catalyst had been holding back a choice, just in case Commander Shepard decided to not play by the AI's rules?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Alright, this is my last attempt at a story; all my previous attempts usually end in some Garry Sue-ish stuff, or whatever. This time, instead of dropping a character into the ME-verse, I had a different idea…

* * *

The Catalyst's Curse

Chapter 1

_**Earth Orbit, 2186**_

"**Make your choice**."

Shepard coughed into her hand, feeling the puncture wound in her chest and lung rattle her breathing. Her other hand hung limp, her left arm broken somewhere. Despite the pain, she found her eyes drawn upward, momentarily watching the flashes though the sky as ships flew between the massive Reapers around them. She winced as she saw a Turian cruiser disappear in a burst of flame and light. Dropping her gaze once more, she saw the Catalyst before her, the three glowing platforms highlighted behind the Reaper AI.

Looking at the platforms, she couldn't help but feel desperation seep into her mind, a feeling of helplessness. Everything she had done, all the things she had sacrificed to stop the Reapers, all boiled down to three, equally horrible choices. Give up her self, her sense of being, and her future to control the Reapers, in order to save everyone; sacrifice herself to force a bio-synthetic evolution for all life; or finally, fire off and destroy a power node in order to simply destroy the Reapers, taking any and all AI with them.

"_Would it be so bad, to be selfish just this once?_" She had given up so much of herself, she had even died once, just to stop the Reapers. All she really wanted was a chance to return to Garrus, and have some kind of future with him, without the threat of galactic annihilation looming over their collective shoulders. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but staring at the options before her, she felt herself sagging, knowing what she had to do. Gripping her pistol a little more tightly in her hand, she started walking.

As she walked, the red light started growing before her, the panel growing nearer.

"**Wait!**" Looking over her shoulder, Commander Shepard noticed the Catalyst seemed agitated. "**Destroying the Reapers will destroy the Geth! Is that a sacrifice you are willing to make?**"

Shepard nodded, "Your other options make it too likely for this whole cycle to continue again, maybe in months, years, or even decades. If there's one thing your Reapers have taught me, it is to never trust your so called 'solutions,' ever."

Before she could resume her walk towards the power node, the Catalyst spoke again, "**If that is your decision, then perhaps you should consider one last option.**" Directly behind the glowing AI, a platform rose from the floor, a console in the center of it. "**Activate the control panel behind me, and you will never see the Reapers again, in any way, shape, or form. We will be gone from you for the rest of time.**"

The Commander was skeptical of the AI. "Why tell me this now? Why not before?"

"**We believed you would sacrifice yourself to save others, and thus did not think our existence to be threatened.**"

Eyes widening in disbelief, she replied, "You mean to tell me you are afraid to die?"

"**We do not feel fear. However, my prime directive dictates that I survive, regardless of all other circumstances. As you feel that the destruction of the Reapers is the most viable option, I give you a new option to remove them from among you, without bringing about my own destruction.**" As Shepard stood there, contemplating, the Catalyst added, "** If you choose this fourth option, it will allow you to live. The station will not be destroyed, and you will not be required to sacrifice yourself.**"

Feeling the blood loss continuing to dull her senses, she glanced back at the red panel, before turning back, moving towards the unlit control panel behind the AI. As she stepped up to the pedestal, she asked, "What will this do, exactly?"

"**It will send the Reapers far away, to a realm where they will never again bother your kind, or your allies.**"

Gasping in pain as she stood there, Commander Shepard came to a decision. Reaching up, she placed her hand onto the console, the panel lighting up and coming to life before her. The original three panels dimmed and went dark, and the Catalyst smiled.

"**Goodbye, Commander Shepard.**"

* * *

"_This is Admiral Hackett, the Crucible is activating! All ships move away from the Citadel!_"

"_...The Reapers are moving away! They are retreating!_"

"_...I repeat, the Reapers are moving towards the Relay!_"

"_What is happening? What-_"

* * *

In a flash of purple light, the Citadel shot a beam of energy towards the sun, the energy beam crossing the distance in seconds. As it struck the surface of the star, the roiling plasma began to change to a matching purple color, until the entire star matched that color. An instant later, the sun shot a beam of energy back into the Citadel, its surface shrinking as it did so. Every light on the Citadel lit up, brighter than ever before.

Before long, the energy buildup released, a wave of energy spreading out in a spherical pattern, passing over the surface of the Earth rapidly. As it did so, every living organism vanished, completely disappearing from the planet, be it a Reaper thrall or not. In space, the beam passed through ships, causing them to disappear as well. The Reapers themselves, however, were left untouched, merely continuing on their way as they flew though space. The beam passed quickly from relay to relay, the purple energy transporting ships, and in some cases, entire planets out of the dimension.

As the beam finished travelling across the entire relay network, the Catalyst smiled to itself. "**The Shepard and her people have been removed. Harbinger, prepare the galaxy for the next harvest.**"

* * *

_**United States, Ohio, 2014**_

* * *

Daniel let out a sigh as his alarm clock rang out, disturbing what had been a rather comfortable sleep. With a groan, he pulled himself out of bed. Even half-asleep, it only took him a few minutes to put on some clothes, dragging out a pair of jeans from the basket of clean laundry on the floor. Once finished with that, he stumbled his way across the studio apartment to his fridge. As normal, breakfast was a rather dull affair for him; toss some cereal in a bowl, and scarf it down dry, finishing by washing it all down with a glass of orange juice.

His normal morning routine continued, all the while his cat Tychi laid on her bed, uninterestedly watching him. Aside from occasionally scratching the cat's head as he walked past, he more or less ignored it. After about fifteen minutes, he finished his routine, and sat down at the kitchen table, a small wooden piece he had received after graduating from college the year before. With his phone in hand, he went through his calendar, looking at his schedule for the week.

"Work, work, laundry, work..." With a sigh, he dropped his phone down onto the table, his forehead following with an audible thunk. "Day in, day out, all the same as before. Get up, go to work, go home, rinse and repeat. Why is it that nothing exciting ever happens?"

With another sigh, Daniel stood up, and moved to walk towards the door. A moment later, a bright flash blinded him, causing him to stumble around until he collided with his couch, quickly grabbing ahold of it to keep from falling. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. Once he could see somewhat, he slowly made his way to his door, pulling it open.

"...the hell?"

The scene in front of him left him baffled; while none of the buildings around him looked any different, there were strange vehicles scattered up and down the road, many in various states of destruction. He realized they all appeared to be futuristic tanks_. _The next thing he noticed was the bodies; they were _everywhere_. Some were hanging off of parked cars, some were blown to pieces, and only a few here and there were even moving. Before he could step foot outside of his apartment, a moaning sound caught his attention, drawing his gaze towards his left. What he saw chilled him to his core; a human, or what was left of one, filled with some kind of cybernetics, mechanical eyes glowing ominously.

The creature was shuffling listlessly through the street, practically wandering in circles. However, as it came across a still moving person on the ground, the monster suddenly came to life, descending on the person like some kind of vulture, tearing into the individual in the ground with hands and teeth. As the person's screams met his ears, Daniel snapped into action. He jumped back into his apartment, and ran across the room, flipping open his chest holding his guns.

He had been called paranoid, redneck, and any other number of slurs by people who knew him, and knew he owned guns. Daniel paid little attention to them, having always been an avid supporter of the second amendment. As such, he had a .45 pistol, and a 5.56 AR-15 with a handful of thirty round magazines. Loading one of these mags into the gun, he stepped back up into the doorframe, and looked for the creature again. It was still on the first person it had attacked, the individual no longer moving. Grimacing, he brought his AR to his shoulder, sighting in on the robot zombie. Releasing a breath, he fired, hitting the thing at the base of the neck. It immediately dropped, missing the back portion of its skull.

Looking around, he realized there was a woman only ten or so feet from his door, clad in some sort of futuristic looking armor, letting out a low moan as she tried to move. He quickly moved to her, using one hand to help her stand. Once she was on her feet, he slung his free arm under her arm and across her back, helping her limp into his apartment. Gingerly, he lowered her onto the floor, leaning her against his couch.

"You're safe here for now. Just wait here, while I go see if anyone else is alive out there."

The woman merely nodded, her hands holding her helmeted head down in her lap. Moving back outside, Daniel kept his head on a swivel, watching and listening for any signs of more of the zombie creatures. As he walked among the bodies, his pace slowed as he realized not all of the armored forms on the ground were human. There were a number of them that were misshapen, some bodies with lots of sharp angles, with a handful of them appearing to be tall, thin, lanky aliens of some kind.

"Aliens... Damn..."

A nearby moan drew his attention away, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw a man slowly lifting himself off the ground. Stepping over to him, Daniel knelt down next to him.

"Hey buddy, you ok?"

The man turned his helmeted head to him, his face visible through the smashed visor. "Y-yeah, I think so."

With a slight smirk, Daniel replied, "Well you are still alive, unlike a lot of people out here, so that has to count for something." Glancing around, he continued, "Look, there are some kind of robot zombies roaming around, so it is not safe out here. Can you walk?"

The man nodded, "Yeah, I think so."

"Good. Lets go." Hoisting the man up under his arm, he began walking him to his apartment, doing his best to avoid the other bodies scattered around. "What exactly is going on?"

The man shot him an indecipherable look. "The Reaper war, that's what!"

Daniels' confusion was evident on his face. "Reaper war? Buddy, as of five minutes ago, there was no war going on here. There was a bright flash of light, then the next thing I knew, the street I live on is suddenly covered in bodies and tank wrecks."

Making it inside his apartment, he helped the other man sit down onto the floor next to the woman he had brought in. "What do you mean?"

Raising an eyebrow, Daniel explained, "Exactly what I said; not ten minutes ago, there were no tanks or bodies or crazy robot zombies outside my apartment. Then there was this blinding flash of light that still has me seeing spots in my vision, and a step outside my door to a warzone that was not there before the flash. Anyways, what is a Reaper?"

The man jerked his helmet off, letting out a sigh of relief as his head came clear. "It is a two kilometer tall sentient robot space ship, that looks like a gigantic cuttlefish."

Resisting the urge to smirk, Daniel shook his head, "Yeah, sorry, I did not see any of those outside; just the robo-zombies." A frown crossed his face for a moment. "I also noticed what looked to be aliens out there. Would you happen to know anything about that?"

Both of the people on the floor turned to look at him, the man in particular seeming perplexed. "Yeah, they were our allies. The Turians and Krogan in particular were the most helpful. You mean to tell me you do not know about them?"

"Uh, no, not really. I do not know where you are from, but welcome to Earth, circa 2014. Judging from your getup, your weapons, and your knowing of aliens, I would assume you have spaceflight. Well, we do not have that. Nor do we have any aliens, or robo-zombies, or any other futuristic things."

The other man seemed gob smacked by this revelation. "2014? But… but it was 2186…"

Daniel's eyebrows shot up. "Not here, it's not. Do you know what happened to land you people here?"

"No, I do not. I was fighting with my squad, or what was left of it, to secure a building filled with civilians. We were being overrun by husks and marauders when the flash happened. The next thing I know, you were shaking me awake out on the street." He paused, before asking, "Did you see anyone right around me that was still alive?"

Shrugging, Daniel replied, "Not that I could see. Mostly I just saw a lot of bodies, Human, alien, and zombie."

The man on the floor smirked. "They are called husks, actually; not zombies."

"Meh, whatever. My name is Daniel, by the way."

Nodding, the other man responded, "I'm Kaidan."

Daniel opened his mouth to reply, when the woman reached up and took her helmet off, revealing something he had not known. "Whoa!"

Kaidan gave him a confused look as Daniel shot back in shock, hands instinctively going to the rifle hanging from the lanyard on his neck. "What is wrong?"

"What is that?!"

Looking next to him, the other mans' eyes widened in realization. Turning back, he held up his hands. "Daniel, relax; she is what we call an Asari. They are not enemies, she will not hurt you."

Daniel was still hesitant, though he did lower the gun part way. The woman spoke, but it was a language he could not understand. Shaking his head, he spoke, "What is she saying? I do not understand."

Kaidan quickly passed along her message. "She is just trying to say that she means you no harm, and that she is thankful you helped her."

Before he could reply, they all heard a noise from outside. Realizing he had left the door partially ajar, Daniel half sprinted over to the doorway, gun at the ready. Outside, he found himself tilting his head slightly at the sight of a robot carrying an unconscious body in its arms, a single optical light turning to look at him as it walked down the street. It turned, and slowly walked up the sidewalk towards him. Seemingly ignoring his gun, the machine stopped about two feet from him.

"_May we enter?_"

Nodding dumbly, Daniel stepped to the side, allowing the robot to walk into his apartment. As soon as it had done so, he closed and locked the door behind him. Shaking his head, he set his rifle down against the door frame, and taking a foldable card table, began propping it against the window, blocking the view into his apartment from the street.

"That table will not stop the husks from getting into here."

Daniel nodded as he braced it with a set of chairs. "I know; but it will keep them from seeing us just by looking into the window. We just cannot make a lot of noise to draw their attention." Glancing at the robot that had laid the suited person down onto the couch, he asked Kaidan, "I take it the talking robot is an ally of yours?"

The soldier nodded, "Yes, this is a Geth. The girl he brought in here is called a Quarian."

The Geth looked between Kaidan and Daniel. "_He does not know of us?_"

Kaidan was quick to reply to the machine. "No, he does not. Apparently we were transported into the year 2014, according to Daniel here."

The Geth's optic whirred a few times, before the robot nodded. "_Based upon observations by the collective, we would concur with that statement. All appearances of this planet's infrastructure and technology base would support the claim._"

Not wanting to listen to dialogue between the machine and the soldier, Daniel stepped away, and pulled out his phone. Dialing his boss, he tried to get ahold of the hotel he worked at. Unfortunately for him, each time he attempted to dial out, all he received was a busy tone, on any line he tried to call. Grimacing, he moved further into the apartment, further away from the aliens in his tiny living space.

Sitting down on the floor, his back against the wall, Daniel held his AR in his hands, the butt of the stock resting against the floor. Unconsciously, he began running his fingers along the ridges and groves of the rifle's body, just trying to process all he had just had thrown at him in the span of a number of minutes. It did not take long, however, before a shadow fell over him. Looking up, he saw Kaidan standing above him.

"You doing ok, kid?"

Daniel looked back down to his gun. "Oh yeah, sure; great. I just found my world turned upside down with some kind of futuristic war and a trio of aliens in my apartment, all after my morning breakfast. Instead of going to work, I am sitting here, rifle in hand, after having shot a robo-zombie, or 'husk' as you call it, and am now catering to aliens inside my apartment. _Aliens!_" He shook his head, dropping it down to press his forehead against the scope of his AR. "What. The. Fuck. Did I finally lose my mind or something? Am I actually being carted off to a white padded room, and I just do not know it yet?"

He looked up when he heard the other man quietly laughing. "Kid, look on the bright side; you did not have to find out you lived in a galaxy that was harvested every fifty thousand years by a race of homicidal sentient machine space ships. Trust me, this is almost tame by comparison, especially when I have a feeling said sentient machines are somehow behind this."

Daniel nodded. "I guess you have a point there." He opened his mouth to say more, but saw the Geth hold out its arm, and a holographic display popped up over it, moving over the unconscious girl in the suit. "Whoa. What is that?"

Kaidan turned, and when he saw what he was referring to, turned back, smiling. "That is an Omni-tool. It is what people use as their personal electronic device in the future. You know, as a calendar, a communicator, or for the military, hacking, disabling, or in a pinch, as an improvised melee weapon."

Daniel's eyes were wide as he continued to stare at the device. "How can I get one?"

Kaidan's smile dimmed, before he replied, "I'm sure there are a few outside; I doubt the dead will be needing them anymore."

"Sorry; I did not mean-"

The other man waved him off. "Relax. I know that was not what you meant."

The Geth spoke up, walking over to their corner of the room. "_This unit is carrying a spare Omni-tool, if you would like to have one, Daniel._" Without waiting, the machine extended its hand, a small wristband device in its hand. Daniel took it from him, eyes wide again. He slid it over his right wrist, then stared at it, trying to figure out how to turn it on.

"It's supposed to go on your other wrist, Daniel."

He shrugged, not looking up from the Omni-tool hardware. "I am left handed, Kaidan. Putting it on my left wrist would not do me much good. Now how do I turn this thing on?"

The Geth instructed him on the devices' usage, "_You first press your thumb to the small crystal to code the device to your genetic code. Then, it will connect to your neural net through a tiny microfiber, and will embed itself into your wrist. From then on, it will become a part of you, and will camouflage itself to match your skin tone, becoming effectively invisible._"

Daniel winced at the machine's description. "That sounds… rather painful, actually."

"_The device will utilize a local paralyzing agent, in order to numb the nerves, preventing you from feeling any pain during the process. Reports from other organics indicate that the area will itch for a few days, before the sensation fades completely._"

He nodded, again looking at the device. "Uh huh. Right… oh, what the hell." Before he could convince himself otherwise, Daniel pressed his finger on the spot the Geth told him to, activating the Omni-tool hardware. The crystal lit up for a few moments, before he felt his entire wrist go numb. He felt a slight prick right where the nerve was on his wrist, before a cool sensation passed up his arm, all the way up his spine and into his head. "Uh, was I supposed to feel a chill all the way up my nervous system to my brain?"

The Geth's head flaps shot open in a way that pantomimed surprise. "_Not specifically._"

"Oh. Cool. That is totally reassuring."

Kaidan knelt down next to him. "Are you ok? Do you feel any other side effects?"

Daniel paused, assessing, before shaking his head. "Not really. At least, not that I can notice." Glancing down at his wrist, he saw the device was already embedding itself in his flesh, the surface already flush with his skin. Holding his right hand up, a holographic interface suddenly popped up. For a few moments, it was oriented backwards, but suddenly readjusted itself, fixing itself to his left handedness. He could not help but smile. "Cool."

Daniel nearly jumped in surprise as he heard the Asari speaking across the room. "…I was able to get ahold of someone on the comm. lines, apparently the fleets in orbit were brought through this time distortion wave along with the rest of us. There are soldiers and civilians scattered across the entire planet, along with Reaper ground forces. Strangely, none of the Reapers themselves were brought through." Looking up, she saw him staring at her. "Why is he staring at me?"

Blinking, he replied, "I could understand you."

The Asari's brow rose in surprise. "Really? That was fast. Usually it takes time for the Omni-tool's translation function to kick in." A smirk graced the woman's features. "Thanks for not leaving me out there for the husks to munch on. My name is Avyria, by the way."

He nodded to her, "No problem. Sorry for freaking out about you being an alien and all."

She waved him off, already turning her attention back to her own Omni-tool. "Do not worry yourself about it. I have dealt with worse reactions than shock and surprise." She paused, before addressing the others in the room. "We can have a shuttle en route here in ten minutes. Apparently they have been shuttling as many people off world as they can, something about some of the local governments being hostile."

The others continued to talk, but Daniel had heard a noise outside that sounded familiar to him. Standing up, he strolled over to the door, AR in hand, and looked out the peephole in the door. There, in the middle of the road, was a military convoy, with Humvees, and a dozen soldiers. A pair of said soldiers were moving from door to door, on each side of the road, knocking on the doors. His eyes grew wide as he saw a group of US soldiers pulling an Asari out of one apartment, holding her at gunpoint.

Daniel turned away, back towards the others in the room. "We may have a slight problem."

Before he could explain more, a knock sounded out at the door.

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A/N: So, what do you think? The way I figure, the original ending of Mass Effect 3 was heavy on the space magic, so I thought I'd just make a play off the same space magic, and twist it my own way. After all, it couldn't be any worse an ending than the originals…

Also a side note, this story assumes that the Mass Effect games were never made in this alternate 'verse.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Just as a refresher note: in this 'verse, there was no Mass Effect game made. No one on this Earth knows about the Citadel races, or the Reapers.

So yeah, I had about a hundred ideas of where to go with this, but I think I've settled on one that I really like. Also, prepare to deal with massive doses of headache-inducing mashing of the multi-verse.

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The Catalyst's Curse

Chapter 2

The soldiers at the door knocked again, this time a little louder. Daniel could not help but feel a bit worried. He turned to Kaidan, asking, "They are taking away aliens at gunpoint. Any ideas?"

The space marine's face became hard as he reached back and pulled out a gun of some kind, unfolding into what looked like a shotgun. "I will not let them haul us away. We are not criminals to be thrown into cells."

Daniel raised an eyebrow, before gesturing to the other man's gun. "You thinking of shooting your way out, then?"

Kaidan nodded, "If necessary, yes."

Glancing at the other two, seeing Avyria and the Geth both ready their own weapons, Daniel let out a sigh. "You know what, I was not going to say anything, but if you are that insistent on getting out, follow me."

Not waiting to see if they listened, Daniel moved to the back of his apartment, kneeling down and pulling open a hidden hatch beneath his small kitchen table. The marine and the alien each gave him an incredulous look. "You just happen to have a hidden escape hatch in your apartment?"

Daniel couldn't help but let a slight smirk through. "Lets just say I have a few secrets of my own, which I will be keeping to myself for the time being. Unless you would rather shoot your way out, that is."

Kaidan shook his head. "No thanks; I try to avoid shooting soldiers who are just following orders."

With a shrug, Daniel slipped down through the hatch. "Whatever works for you. Someone pass the unconscious girl down."

The Geth quickly stepped forward, lowering the Quarian down into the hole, as the soldiers outside the apartment began pounding on the door. The machine was quick to speak up. "_This unit suggests we move on with haste._"

Taking the Quarian in his arms, he had to resist rolling his eyes down in the narrow tunnel. "No, really, you think?"

As soon as the Geth came down through the hole, Daniel handed the unconscious girl back to it, before helping Avyria and Kaidan down. A moment later, his cat jumped down the hole, landing on his shoulder. Smirking as he reached up, he pulled the hatch closed, locking it from beneath, on the off chance the soldiers happened to find it. He let out a sigh of relief as he heard the door to his apartment get knocked down a few moments later. As he moved back around the group, he set down his AR-15 and reached into a small niche carved into the tunnel wall, pulling out a backpack. He quickly opened a pouch for his cat to slide in and stare out of. Kaidan was quick to notice it. "What do you have in the bag?"

Daniel shrugged, not stopping to look at the man as he answered, "The few things on this planet I care enough about to not leave behind. Just a few personal belongings." Reaching into a second hole, he pulled out a P90, quickly checking to make sure the weapon was loaded. "Plus a backup weapon, just in case."

Avyria spoke up from behind the marine. "Why, exactly, do you have a military styled gun down here? Were you thinking you would be fighting off soldiers or police or something?"

He paused, considering, before shooting the Asari a smirk. "Something like that. You could say it has a lot to do with what I did before I went to college and got a degree, along with a legitimate job." His smirk faded as he looked down the tunnel. "Although I think you may get a first hand look at a rather large chunk of my past, if this army of robo-zombies is all over the place."

"What do you mean?"

Daniel sighed, before starting to walk, explaining as he did so. "Simple; we need somewhere safe to bunker down for a while, and I just so happen to know just the place, assuming it has not been overrun."

The tunnel, as it turned out, was not all that long, a mere thirty or so feet in all, ending in a ladder that appeared to rest in another basement of some kind. Pressing a lever, a hidden hatch popped open, allowing the small group to exit the tunnel. Daniel glanced around, noting the pipes and other miscellaneous equipment scattered around the basement they were in. Without saying anything, he began walking forward, moving towards the stairs leading up. Behind him, Kaidan spoke up, "So where are you taking us?"

Glancing at the other man over his shoulder, he responded, "I have a few… friends… from another time in my life. They have a secure hideout we can go to. As long as it was not empty when this nightmare started, it should be secure enough to hold out against these monstrosities you people brought with you."

As the group fell silent, moving through a conspicuously empty apartment, Daniel realized with a jolt how easily he was falling back into old habits; how natural the gun felt back in his hands. He lightly shook his head, pushing the thought away as best he could, and tried to focus more on his surroundings.

As they stepped up to the front door of the empty apartment, Daniel quickly glanced out the side window, making sure to be careful enough not to disturb the curtain and garnish too much attention. With a sigh of relief, he turned back to the others. "This side of the cul-de-sac is clear; no visible monsters, and no soldiers in sight."

Kaidan nodded, before releasing his grip on his shotgun to gesture with one hand. "Then lead on."

Squaring his shoulders, Daniel slowly opened the door, stepping out into the open cautiously, gun at the ready. As he walked out, he could hear the Asari speak softly to the marine, "Why do I get the impression that guy has some experience with weapons?"

Kaidan's reply was too soft for him to hear, but his focus was elsewhere, seeing a group of soldiers rounding a corner nearly a hundred feet away, moving perpendicular to the road he was on. He practically dove behind a nearby parked car, hoping beyond hope the soldiers had not seen him. His heart nearly jumped into his throat when he heard gunfire from that direction. However, as he paused to listen, he realized the shots were not being fired towards him.

Risking a glance around the car, he breathed a sigh of relief, realizing the soldiers were fighting off more of the robo-zombies, or husks as Kaidan had called them. His relief, however, was short lived. Barreling through the column of soldiers like a two-legged tank came the biggest demonic _thing_ Daniel had ever seen. Even the roar it let loose was nearly enough to freeze him in place. Only his well-honed sense of self-preservation jump started his fight or flight instinct. Waving, he yelled to the group, "Let's go!"

Not waiting to see if they were following, Daniel took off at a dead run in the opposite direction of the soldiers and the monster, heading towards another road, another row of apartments and small businesses. He slowed, however, when his eyes fell onto an untouched SUV parked clear of almost any debris. Altering his direction, he ran over to the vehicle, nearly letting out a yell of joy as the door opened immediately; unlocked. Kaidan came up behind him, gun at the ready. "What are you doing? We do not have time to waste-"

He was interrupted by the sound of a revving engine, just as Daniel slid a panel back in place from underneath the console, putting a tool back into his pocket. "No time to argue, we need to get some distance from here; it will be easier to do so on wheels!"

Jumping into the driver's seat, Daniel waited for the rest of the group to get into the SUV, before kicking it into gear. As the floored it in reverse, orienting the car away from the soldiers, he resisted the urge to swear, seeing the soldiers running towards them in the rear view mirror. Gunning the throttle, the 'borrowed' SUV swerved around piles of debris, bodies, and wrecked vehicles, both normal and futuristic.

It did not take long before they were able to slow down somewhat, getting onto a straighter road, with less detritus scattered across the surface of the asphalt. As he relaxed somewhat into the seat, Kaidan looked at him from the passenger seat, a suspicious look on his face. "Alright kid, I have been patient this far, but the further we go on this little escapade, the more you look like a criminal. Tell me what's going on."

Daniel shot the man a glare, before letting out a sigh. "Fine. Before school, I was a criminal, more or less. Grand theft auto, corporate burglary, unsanctioned repossessions; if it dealt with tech, electronics or cash, we probably had something to do with it."

"We?"

He smirked slightly, "Well, I did not do it all alone. There was a team of us. Still is, technically; I just tried to get out of it. I did not want to live that life forever."

Kaidan stared at him hard for a few moments. "Why live it at all?"

Daniel's jovial mood evaporated like a snowball in hell. "Because my family is dead. Funny how high and mighty people get, until they have everything that matters taken from them." Glancing over, he noticed the marine's face had almost turned beet red in shame. "Relax; you obviously didn't know, otherwise I doubt you would have asked." He paused, letting out a slow sigh. "Look, we were all orphans; no family. We found each other, and we found the guy who helped us all be better than street trash. We only stole from CEO's and large companies, mostly; especially the ones embezzling large sums of money."

Avyria piped up from the back seat, thoroughly enraptured by the story. "So you never stole from innocent people?"

A hint of a smile graced the driver's lips. "Define innocent. just because a guy can work nine to five like most regular folk, does not mean he might not be smuggling drugs on the side. Innocent is a very figurative term. But I understand what you mean; we did not steal from people who were struggling to make ends meet, or who were honest in their dealings." He paused, before a full smile came to his face. "Although there were a few cheating spouses we did a couple of hits on…"

A slight moan caught everyone's attention. Glancing back, Daniel saw the Quarian girl begin to sit up, a hand moving to her head. Avyria sat back, and patted the girl's shoulder. "Welcome back to the world of the living. You are safe right now."

The girl shook her head slightly, "Wha…?"

Daniel shook his head, before speaking out, "One of you can explain to her what has been going on; I'm busy driving."

* * *

Daniel let out a sigh as a light dusting of snow began covering the ground, lowering visibility quite a bit, forcing him to slow down. He tuned in to the voices in the car, listening to hear where they were in their explanation, only to find they had basically finished.

"…So now we are headed to Daniel's hideout."

The Quarian girl, who had earlier told her name to be Jari'Korris, spoke up somewhat timidly. "What about the shuttle that had been sent to pick us up?"

The Geth replied, "_It was shot at by the local military forces. They will send another shuttle once they have air support available to keep it from being shot down. Current estimate is approximately six hours, twenty three minutes._"

Daniel nodded, adding in his own input, "Don't worry; we are almost to my friends' hideout. Just let me do the talking, I'm sure that they will not have any problems with a few extra guests for a short while."

Almost on cue, he turned off the road, into a seemingly empty and abandoned parking lot. Driving up next to a rundown looking set of doors, he parked the SUV, before turning it off. Quickly, he moved around the vehicle to retrieve his pack and P90, before leading the group to a stairway leading down. Thankfully, his cat was still sitting in his pack, content to watch what was going on. Moving down to the sub-level door, he hit the door once, paused, then hit it two more times. A muffled voice sounded out through an intercom. "_What's the password?_"

With a smirk, Daniel pressed the receiver to reply, "May your troubles be less, your blessings be more, and nothing but booze, whores, and obscene amounts of cash come through your door."

There was a pause, before the door was practically flung open. He stepped inside, only to be nearly smacked into a wall. "Danny, what the hell man! I thought you said you went clean!"

Smiling widely, he pushed the other man back. "Yeah, yeah, whatever Richie; tell that to the marauding horde of cyborg zombies, aliens, and soldiers out there."

Richie just shook his head, "Seriously, man; we were wondering if you would be smart enough to show up here when the shit hit the fan. Ashley has been nearly worried sick."

At the mention of the name, Daniel's smile faded. "She still refuses to give it up?"

"You know how she feels. So you went away for a couple of years, that didn't change jack shit."

At the sound of a cleared throat, Daniel turned around. "Oh, sorry guys; this is Richie." Turning back, he continued, "Richie, the Human is called Kaidan, the blue alien is Avyria, and before you ask, no, she does not speak English, but she can understand you, so no lewd remarks. The masked alien is called Jari, and the robot… well, it is a member of a robot species called Geth. I don't think it actually has a name…"

"Seriously? What the holy fuck…" As the two younger men turned to walk further into the building, neither noticed the pale complexion or shocked look on Kaidan's face.

As Daniel walked past the entryway into the main room, a wave of nostalgia washed over him, nearly overwhelming him. Despite being away for two and a half years, almost nothing had changed. The two-story room still sported a wraparound balcony, two walls lined ceiling to floor with stolen computer banks. Tables with an assortment of gear took up the center of the room, along with a half-assembled motorcycle. The far wall had three sets of bunks, with military-styled lockers between each set. The fourth and final wall was taken up with a projector screen, currently displaying security footage from cameras positioned nearby. Otherwise, the room was filled with boxes of supplies and other miscellaneous junk.

"Look what the cat dragged in!"

Turning with a smile, Daniel regarded the approaching man for only a moment before extending a hand. "Keiji, it's been a while."

The man just shook his head, returning the handshake with a smile. "Too long, you bonehead. Far, far too long." Keiji glanced over his shoulder, before gesturing. "Someone else has been waiting for you."

Turning, Daniel came face to face with the woman who was waiting behind him. His grin turned into a gentle smile. "Hey Ash."

She smiled at him, tension bleeding away from her form as she took in the sight of him. "Long time no see, Danny."

They stared at each other for a few moments, before Daniel shook himself out of the stupor he was falling into. Turning to the group of newcomers, he spoke up, "Hey, sorry; guys, I'd like to introduce my dysfunctional family away from family. We've got Richard Jenkins here," the man smiled and nodded. "Next to him is Keiji Okuda," Keiji gave them a slight bow. "This lovely lady here is Ashley Williams," said 'lady' reached out and punched Daniel in the arm, but turned a deep shade of red. "The Boss should be around here somewhere…"

The sound of footsteps on a metal grating echoed through the space, causing everyone to look up at the balcony above. Daniel smiled as he looked up at the man in question. "Nice of you to finally show up, Danny boy."

"Whatever, old man. You know you couldn't keep me away even if you wanted to." Turning back, he finished, "That, my space-borne friends, is the man who helped pull us all off the streets; David Anderson."

Daniel's smile turned to a frown as a 'thud' noise caught his attention. Looking at the ground, he realized Kaidan had inexplicably passed out. Keiji was the first to speak after a rather awkward silence. "He suffering from blood loss or something?"

Shaking his head, Daniel replied, "I don't think so. I never saw him get shot; at least, not since the flash happened."

Anderson was quick to bark out orders. "Well don't just stand there, get him to a cot! Bleeding or not, he is our guest. The rest of you, feel free to make yourselves at home."

Richie and Keiji quickly picked the man up off the floor, before dragging his limp form to the nearest cot. Daniel quickly made his way to one of the two spiral staircases leading to the balcony, moving up to the second floor. Coming to a stop in front of the older man, he hesitated. "I- I wasn't sure if I was still welcome…"

Anderson just smiled, before patting him on the shoulder. "I told you the day you left, Daniel, you are always welcome here. This will always be a home for those who have none, a place for the orphan to have a family."

Daniel smirked, his nervousness fading away. "Sure, a home that also happens to siphon money from billionaire playboys and corporate thieves, and is being bankrolled by a corrupt politician who wants his enemies robbed blind."

The older man just rolled his eyes, still smiling. "Yes, there is also that."

Shaking his head, Daniel's smile faded a bit. "I'm not sure I ever told you this, but thank you for everything you did for me, David. You were like a father to me when I had none."

Anderson's smile faded slightly. "I made a promise to your father-"

All at once, Daniel became defensive. "Don't tell me that was the only reason you took me in! That bastard left me to rot!"

"Daniel Shepard, don't you dare speak of your father like that!"

Eyes narrowed, he replied, quietly, "Why not? He left me, Anderson. He took the coward's way out, and left me with _nothing!_" He paused, before letting out a sigh, turning away in shame. "I'm sorry. You don't deserve my anger."

He glanced over as Anderson placed a hand on his shoulder, "Save your apologies. I understand. Your father was my friend a long time, Daniel. I do not agree with what he did, but all the anger and frustration in the universe cannot change what has already happened." David stepped up next to him, before letting out a slight hum.

Turning to look at him, Daniel asked, "What?" He followed the older man's gaze, seeing what he was looking at on the lower level of the room, just as he answered.

"Why is the robot staring at us?"

* * *

"_Why is the robot staring at us?_"

_/ Accessing historical records stored in the Collective…_

_/ Searching relevant directories…_

_/ Found: records: Daniel Shepard…_

_/ …_

_/ …_

_/ Processing…_

_/ …_

_/ …_

_/ ERROR…_

_/ Inconsistency discovered…_

_/ … _

_/ Processing…_

_/ …_

_/ Preparing burst communiqué message…_

_/ Sending burst message to S.S.V. Kilimanjaro…_

_/ Sending burst message to S.S.V. Normandy…_

_/ Sending burst message to Rayya, Quarian Admiralty Board…_

_/ Sending burst message to Geth Collective…_

* * *

As the Geth unit continued to stare at them, Daniel slowly backed away. "How about we go somewhere more private? I have a feeling that thing can hear us from up here."

Anderson nodded, turning to walk away. "Sure." The older man then led him across the balcony, into a small room on the second floor. He closed the door as soon as Daniel had stepped inside.

"Alright David, what is going on out there?"

As the two of them sat down at the small table in the middle of the room, Anderson let out a small sigh, running a hand over his head. "Honestly? It's one giant cluster-fuck out there. Before the power went out almost globally, there were reports of these robot zombies everywhere, along with aliens to boot. Strangely enough, I've been hearing reports over the HAM radios that there are soldiers that were already deployed, in almost all of the first-world countries, as if they knew this was coming."

Holding up a hand, Daniel interjected, "Hold on; you mean to tell me our governments knew this was coming? _How?_"

After a moment, David let one of his rare smirks show. "You probably will not believe this, but we have also been able to pick up more than one reference on the military channels to both Roswell and Area 51."

"You were right. I don't believe you."

The other man's smirk faded away, into what appeared to be a very concerned frown. "There… was something else, Daniel. They mentioned you by name."

His eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"Something about some kind of records, the reports weren't clear. However, they said your name very specifically, and very clearly. I do not know why they want you in their custody, but they sent an entire battalion into this part of the city for that reason alone." Anderson leaned back in his chair, glancing out a small window showing the interior of the main room. "It is also why we have begun packing things to leave."

Daniel nearly fell out of his chair hearing that. "L-leave?! But this is your home!"

David let out a single bark of laughter. "Home? Kid, this place may have served as a base of operations for nearly a decade, but it is the people within that make the home. I did not raise all of you to be who you are today, just to see you all get hauled away by soldiers." Squaring his shoulders, the older man's eyes became hard. "No, if the government is looking for you specifically, then they will know to eventually come here. This place is no longer safe for any of us. Quite frankly, you are lucky you got here when you did; we were planning on leaving within the next hour."

Hesitating for a moment, Daniel looked down at the surface of the table. "I, uh… I was wondering-"

Anderson cut him off. "Yes, you are coming with us. No, there was never any reason for you to doubt. And no, I'm not letting you run off by yourself." Smiling at the incredulous look on the younger man's face, he added, "What, did you think I wouldn't know what you were thinking? You seem to forget how much like your parents you are, and I knew them a very long time, Daniel. However, your innate sense of selflessness will not do you any good today. I will not let you go throw yourself to the wolves, just out of some desire to protect the rest of us. Besides, would we really be in this line of work if we couldn't handle ourselves?"

Daniel allowed a small smile to show. "Probably not. All right, Anderson, you made your point. I will stay with you guys when you leave. However, if you're right, and there are soldiers looking for me, we should leave as soon as we can." He shook his head as he stood up, visibly confused. "What I can't understand is why soldiers would be after me, specifically. It just does not make sense."

Anderson gave him a pat on the shoulder. "As I always say, if something doesn't make sense, you do not have all the facts. We just have to find out more intel; once we do, things will become more clear."

A knock on the doorframe caught their attention. Turning, they saw Ashley standing at the door. "Hey Boss, the tin man wants to talk to you; it's saying something about a shuttle or whatever."

"Thanks, Ash. I'll see what the robot wants."

As the older man left, Daniel found himself face to face with Ashley, with no one else around to break the sudden tension. She gave him a tentative smile. "Hey Danny. How have you been?"

Doing his best to stifle the twinge nervousness in his gut, he gave her the easiest smile he could, leaning against the table. "Well, other than apparently having a bunch of G-men after me, and rescuing a couple of aliens, I would say I'm doing rather well. How about yourself?"

Ash shrugged, leaning against the doorframe. "Took a bullet to the shoulder last month, but nothing that couldn't be fixed." Seeing the questioning look on his face, she explained, "We were hitting an Exxon storage warehouse. We got a tip that they were holding some experimental tech inside, revolutionary stuff. They were just burying it in favor of pumping and selling more oil instead. We got in, and got the tech, but Richie accidentally tripped a silent alarm. On our way out, guards nearly ambushed us. I took a round to the shoulder, and another round grazed Keiji's leg. Other than that, no problems."

Curiosity piqued, he couldn't help but ask, "What did you pull out of the facility?"

With a smirk, Ashley waved for him to follow. Doing so, the two of them walked back down to the main floor. With a flourishing gesture, she spoke, "I present to you the micro-fusion reactor. That little thing is the only reason we have power right now."

Eyebrows raised, Daniel replied, "You mean that football sized piece of machinery is powering all the computer banks in here?"

Another voice joined in the conversation, as Richie stepped up, "Of course it is. The best part is we are only pulling about a third of the total power output of the thing! The original inventor was blackmailed into selling the patent to Exxon, and they were going to destroy this beauty. We got to it first."

Daniel smirked at the other man. "Let me guess, you already figured out how to duplicate it, and have another three of them stored elsewhere?"

Richard just shrugged, an innocent look plastered on his face. "I can neither confirm nor deny the accusations." He paused, before adding, "Also, hypothetically speaking, there would also be a chance that I… may have figured out how to make it smaller…"

He couldn't help but laugh, patting Richie on the shoulder. "Why am I not surprised?"

Someone cleared their throat behind them, causing them all to turn around. Daniel's eyebrow rose as he realized the Quarian was standing there, almost timidly. "D-did you say that that is a micro-fusion reactor?"

Richie nodded, "Yeah, I did. Do you know anything about technology?"

Jari nodded back, some of her nervousness fading as she explained, "My race has been exiled to a fleet of starships for three centuries. We are masters of technology by necessity." She looked between the small reactor and each of them standing there. "W-would you be willing to let me look at it?"

Richie couldn't help but smile. "Sure; if you want, I can even share the blueprints with you. No sense just keeping it to ourselves."

Daniel thought the Quarian's eyes were going to burst through her mask. "You would just give me access to that?"

The three humans shared a look of confusion, while Richard nodded. "Sure. The whole reason we stole the reactor from the petroleum company was to make sure it was used and distributed as widely as possible. The way I see it, if an alien is interested in it, and a bunch of aliens use it, then we would have succeeded a hell of a lot more than I ever anticipated."

All three of them began to smile as the girl began practically bouncing in place. "Thank you so much!"

Before anyone else could say anything more, the Geth stepped up to the group of them. "_We wish to inform you that a ship is currently en route to our location to evacuate us all._"

Anderson stepped up next to Daniel, replying, "Thanks for letting us know. We are going to be evacuating ourselves soon as well."

The Geth was quick to interject, "_You misunderstand; we wish for you to come with us._"

Only David Anderson managed to keep his jaw from hanging wide open, narrowing his eyes at the machine. "Why is that?"

Hearing the question, the robot actually shifted from one foot to the other, a normally organic gesture of discomfort. "_Our superiors wish to offer you asylum, in thanks for assistance in rescuing an admiral's daughter._"

Daniel did a double take. "Wait, _admiral's_ daughter?!"

The Geth gestured to Jari'Korris, the Quarian girl dropping her head into her hands. "Keelah, you just _had_ to bring that up…"

Anderson quickly retook control over the situation. "We will not leave without being able to take some of our gear with us. That is non-negotiable. We have a number of experimental pieces of technology, the likes of which have yet to be replicated, and took a great deal of risk on our part to acquire."

The Geth's head flaps gyrated slightly, before the machine nodded. "_Your terms are acceptable. The ship will be arriving within a few minutes. We recommend beginning preparing your equipment for evacuation immediately._"

Almost all at once, everyone began running around, working feverishly to gather their gear and belongings. Noticing Anderson standing there, Daniel walked over to him. "Is your gear already packed?"

David nodded, "I keep my gear packed at all times, Danny. After all, we have always lived under the threat of being forced out of here at a moments notice." The older man gestured to the pack on his back. "Something you clearly planned for, as well. I recognize that bag as the one you had before you left." Daniel did not reply, merely staring at the Geth as it moved to assist in moving gear. Anderson noticed. "What are you thinking?"

"I think I don't trust the robot. I never actually rescued that girl, David. That Geth walked up carrying her unconscious form, and just followed me as I came here, along with that space Human, Kaidan, and the other alien chick. The robot is using that as some kind of cover or excuse. I just don't know why."

With a pat on the shoulder, the older man spoke as softly as he could and still be heard. "That may be, but we do not have a lot of options right now. Sure, we have two fallback locations, but if the military is specifically looking for you, those locations are no more secure than this bunker has been. Whatever their reasoning is, going out into space is, quite literally, the safest place you can be right now, Daniel. The fact the robot has offered to take all of us is a convenience we cannot ignore."

Daniel let out an exasperated sigh. "I know, Anderson, it's an offer too good to pass up. I just… I have a bad feeling about this whole situation. Like we are about to step into something way bigger than us, way over our heads."

David gave him a kind smile. "That may be the case, Daniel. If it is, then I guess it is a good thing we have our strategist back, isn't it?"

He let out a snort, but smiled. "If you say so. You were far better at strategy than I ever was, old man."

Anderson shook his head, lightly smacking Daniel's arm with the back of his hand. "You give me far too much credit, Danny."

The Geth stepping over to them interrupted any further conversation. "_The ship is almost here. We should move our gear outside now._"

David Anderson nodded, his face turning to a mask of professionalism. "Very well. Richard, is everyone ready?"

Richie practically slid to a halt in front of the two of them. "Yes, Boss; the gear is all in crates, other than the micro-fusion reactor. Once we yank it, the bunker goes dark."

With a nod, Anderson replied, "Then yank it. Set the self-destruct for fifteen minutes."

Daniel looked to the other man with wide eyes. "Self destruct system? When in the hell did you install _that?!_"

"Last year. Honestly, Danny, you should try to keep up better." The smirk on Anderson's face belied the tone of his voice. "Alright boys and girls, it's time to move out!"

Barely had the lights turned out, along with the banks of computers, before an array of flashlights came on, lighting the way to carrying their gear out through the door leading into the parking lot. Daniel grimaced as he saw the snow had picked up, layering the parking lot in almost an inch of snow, and further reducing visibility. Looking up, he could barely make out a trio of rectangular shapes drifting down, thrusters lighting them up and vaporizing the snow immediately around them. They carefully lowered themselves to the ground, somehow managing to do so despite the worsening wind conditions. His cat let out a low mewling noise at the strange machines.

As the hatch opened on the first shuttle, another Quarian stepped out, a futuristic assault rifle in hand. The man strode up to their group, moving directly in front of Jari. Snapping a salute, he spoke out, "Sergeant Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines. Jari'Korris?" The girl nodded. "I've been ordered to bring you and your… rescuers… up to the fleet. We were told to expect a sizable amount of gear?"

Anderson stepped forward, quick to reply, "That is correct. A great deal of our equipment is relatively small, but some of it is fragile, so please be careful with it. Also, one of your Human compatriots passed out a while ago, and has yet to wake up."

Kal'Reegar nodded, before pointing. "You two, help load the unconscious marine into the first shuttle. Everyone else, let's get this gear loaded up and get back into orbit. I am not getting shot down by the locals because you ladies weren't fast enough loading up _boxes!_"

Daniel couldn't help but smile, listening to the Quarian bark orders. He seemed rather likable, in his opinion. Stepping up to the man, he spoke, "We are also on a tight deadline; our facility would be considered… slightly less than legal here. It has a self-destruct activated with a timer of fifteen minutes, set less than two minutes ago."

The Quarian soldier merely nodded. "Understood. Thanks for the heads up; and you are?"

Extending a hand, he replied, "Oh, sorry; my name is Daniel Shepard."

Kal'Reegar seemed to hesitate momentarily, eyes widening in surprise, before he returned the handshake. "Shepard, eh? If I am familiar with Human customs, that is not exactly a common name, is it?"

Daniel shook his head, a slight smirk on his face. "Not really, though it would depend on where you are from to be sure. Some places, some names are more common than others."

He made to say more, when a low rumbling sound caught his attention. Frowning, Daniel moved around the shuttle, glancing towards the road. He nearly swore aloud when he saw what looked like military vehicles move into the parking lot from the road, heading in their direction.

Turning, he yelled out, "We have soldiers moving in!"

Kal'Reegar began barking out orders rapidly. "Venis, Gobri, take left! Daniel, you any good with that gun?"

"Better than good."

The soldier nodded. "Good; you are with me. We will hold the right side."

They moved into position, Daniel holding his P90 tightly, watching the Humvees grind to a halt, soldiers jumping out and taking up defensive positions. Strangely, none of them opened fire. A moment later, one soldier began walking forward, holding his hands out to show that he was unarmed. He yelled out over the wind, "We are looking for Daniel Shepard. Is he here?"

Grimacing, he yelled out to them, "Why are you looking for him?"

The soldier's eyes moved to him, and even at the distance, he could see the man's eyes flicker with recognition. "We are under orders to take you in for your own protection, Daniel. There are people who are after you."

With a raised brow, Daniel called out, "Who gave you your orders, and who is after me?"

"We have orders directly from the white house, and I am not at liberty to say. If you come with us, your friends will be allowed to leave unharmed."

Gnawing on his lower lip, he turned to Kal'Reegar. "Can you see how many of them there are?"

The Quarian glanced at them, small lights visible on his visor, before he nodded. "Yeah, about nine or ten of them. None of them have any heavy weapons." He paused, before finishing, "We could hold them off. I am not in favor of leaving anyone behind, especially since I would likely be the one ordered to initiate the rescue mission to haul your sorry ass out of wherever they would try to hide you."

Brow furrowing, Daniel asked, "What do you mean, you would be sent to rescue me?"

Kal'Reegar visibly hesitated, before tentatively replying, "Look, all I know is that you may or may not have some kind of relation to someone rather important to my superiors. Beyond that, I cannot say. I would tell you if I knew anything else."

Closing his eyes for a moment, he sat there, kneeling on the ground, and cleared his mind. He focused on what his gut was telling him, his instincts. He had learned long ago that his instincts were a far better gauge for this sort standoff situation. Finally, he opened his eyes up, and nodded to himself. Leaning back around the shuttle, he yelled out, "Thanks for the offer, but I think I will be going with my new friends here. No offense."

He saw the soldier visibly tense up, before he replied, "I'm sorry to hear that. Soldiers, take out the aliens, but make sure not to hit Shepard; are orders are to bring him in alive!"

In that moment, the sound of gunfire filled the air.

* * *

A/N: Share your thoughts with me, my minions.


End file.
